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Frequently Asked Questions Assessment Policy

Please check with your human resources office concerning agency-specific guidelines for assessment documentation, such as what information should be recorded, how long it should be stored, who should hold the information, etc. Be sure to store all documentation in a safe, secure area.
In addition, please refer to the Delegated Examining Operations Handbook, Appendix C - Records Retention and Disposition Schedule, regarding the length of time records are to be retained: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/deo_handbook.pdf
Also, the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (http://www.uniformguidelines.com/uniformguidelines.html) has a section dedicated to documentation, with Section 15, subpart C(4) specifically addressing documenting selection procedures and related content.

Research has demonstrated that structured interviews can be reliable, valid measures of competencies. They are legally defensible when the interview questions target job-related behaviors and/or experiences identified through a job analysis. The use of job-related assessments increases the likelihood of hiring high-quality candidates.

Structured interviews are also a great tool to assess those competencies that may be difficult to measure with other assessments, such as Teamwork, Oral Communication, and Interpersonal Skills.

To select the competencies, or content areas, to assess in the structured interview:

1) conduct a job analysis and/or review the job analysis data to determine the tasks and competencies that are critical to the position,
2) review the competencies necessary to perform the tasks,
3) identify the competencies that are required upon entry, and
4) obtain confirmation of the selected competencies from subject matter experts (SMEs).

You may have, or end up with, more critical competencies from your job analysis than can be covered during a structured interview. You may be able to narrow your competency selection by:

1) measuring some of the competencies via other assessment methods (e.g., occupational questionnaire),
2) asking your SMEs to pick only those competencies that best identify, or distinguish, successful performers, and/or
3) asking your SMEs to select only those competencies that they believe are lacking among current incumbents.

On November 19, 1981, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia resolved a class-action suit that was filed in 1979 (http://archive.opm.gov/luevano_archive/luevano-archive.asp). The suit alleged that the Professional and Administrative Career Exam (PACE), which the Government used to fill approximately 110 occupations at the GS-5 and GS-7 grade levels, had an adverse impact on the selection of African Americans and Hispanics.

OPM has developed two types of instruments that you may use for filling those occupations:

Administrative Careers with America (ACWA) Written Tests; and

ACWA Rating Schedules.

NOTE: A rating schedule is an evaluation of an applicant's job-related competencies or knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) performed by a rater or by an applicant's self-rating (i.e., occupational questionnaire). For more information, please see Chapter 2, Section C, of the Delegated Examining Operations Handbook.

NOTE: The math and verbal parts are combined to create an overall score on the ability test.

The Individual Achievement Record (IAR) is a biodata instrument. A biodata instrument is a test that consists of items that ask about past events and behaviors which reflect personality attributes, attitudes, experiences, interests, and other characteristics related to a person's possible overall performance for a given occupation.

The Administrative Careers With America (ACWA) rating schedule is a set of online occupational questionnaires used to evaluate applicants' relevant personal, educational, and work experiences. An individual questionnaire takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete.

The questions are related to fundamental competencies, such as Problem Solving and Oral Communication. The questionnaire gives credit for experiences applicants have gained through a wide variety of sources, for example:

The ACWA rating schedules, or occupational questionnaires, were developed to provide agencies with another option in addition to the written tests for selecting individuals. A separate occupational questionnaire was developed for each of the 111 occupations. The occupational questionnaires assess different competencies from the ACWA written tests and can be used either alone or in combination with the ACWA written tests or a structured interview (see Section C of the Delegated Examining Operations Handbook, http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/deo_handbook.pdf).

The Uniform Guidelines (http://uniformguidelines.com/) apply to all selection procedures used to make employment decisions, including written tests, interviews, review of experience or education from application forms, résumés, work samples, physical requirements, and evaluations of performance.

Employment decisions include, but are not limited to, hiring, promotion, demotion, membership (e.g., a labor organization), referral, retention, and licensing and certification (to the extent that licensing and certification may be covered by Federal equal employment opportunity law). Other selection decisions, such as selection for training or transfer, may also be considered employment decisions if they lead to any of the decisions listed above (see sections 2B and 16Q in the Uniform Guidelines, http://uniformguidelines.com/, and Question 6 within Questions and Answers, http://uniformguidelines.com/qandaprint.html).

If the intended results are not achieved with a particular question, it may be considered for elimination before final scoring of the assessment (i.e., given an effective weight of zero). Any adjustments to the scoring procedure should be based on a sound rationale, implemented uniformly for all applicants, evaluated for potential negative impact (e.g., maintaining coverage of critical competencies), and thoroughly documented.

It is highly recommended that you administer the interview questions as part of a trial run (or pilot) before using any interview questions in the "real" interview(s). Doing a trial run of the interview questions allow you to determine whether the question(s) is(are) clearly worded and elicit an acceptable range of responses. A pilot test will often reveal if any revisions need to be made. To be useful, the pilot test should mimic the actual structured interview process as closely as possible. Refer to page 14 of OPM's Structured Interview Guide (http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/assessment-and-selection/structured-interviews/guide.pdf) for a discussion of pilot testing interview questions and evaluating the interview process.

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